Aston Villa against Forest: Top-Flight Preview
Introduction
Hello and welcome to this English top-flight fixture between Villa and Forest. Villa will be the expected winners to win in this lunchtime start as they are soaring this season and are currently sitting third, while Forest are seventeenth and just four points outside of the drop zone.
Both clubs are entering the game on the back of a loss as Villa were beaten 4-1 by league-leading Arsenal and Forest fell 2-0 to Everton.
This promises to be a tough task for the visitors to come away with all three points with Villa possessing one of the best home forms in Europe at the moment and they also set a club record of 36 wins across all competitions this season. But maybe it’s a new year and a new narrative? The answer will be revealed very soon.
The confirmed XIs will drop shortly before kick-off at 12.30pm GMT.
Starting Elevens
The team news is in. The Villa boss has made a quartet of alterations to his starting lineup who lost 4-1 to Arsenal last time out.
Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins.
Substitutes: Bizot, Digne, Sancho, Garcia, Carroll, Bogarde, Hemmings, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba.
Nottingham Forest have also made four changes to their starting squad after a 2-0 loss to Everton.
Nott’m Forest: Victor, Williams, Murillo, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Dominguez, I Jesus, Hutchinson, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Aina.
Substitutes: Sels, Morato, Awoniyi, Luiz, Kalimuendo, McAtee, Zinchenko, Savona, Abbott.
Dugout Insights
Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has commented on his opponent today:
"He has done a great job as a manager there. Their signings has been strong - spent a lot of money, to be fair, on some very good players and they’ve forged it into a strong side, so definitely a tough game.
We’ve just demonstrated lately, we’ve faced some of the top sides, or the ones that are tipped every year, and done very well against them - and a couple of teams perhaps not as highly-rated, we haven’t done as well against them. That’s probably the test of the group - rising to the challenge of each game rather than just the big games."
Player Situation
Harvey Elliott has no future at Aston Villa, news that was revealed by the manager Emery in the build-up to this match. The boss stated:
"I am respecting him all we can because he’s a excellent professional, very respectful. The situation we have with Harvey is this year he is a loan player and if he is featuring regularly, we are obligated to buy him. We made the decision two months ago we are not convinced to make the move permanent, spending the money we need."
Season Snapshot
What a difference a year makes. This time last year Forest were in third place in the table, where Villa are now. A lot of things have changed, including the manager twice and Sean Dyche is tasked with keeping the club in the Premier League this season. Since being appointed on 21 October, Dyche has accumulated 10 Premier League points and the side are just above the bottom three with 19 games of the season remaining.